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<title>She is like a cat in the dark and then she is the darkness. by Willow_writes_stuff</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26993374">She is like a cat in the dark and then she is the darkness.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willow_writes_stuff/pseuds/Willow_writes_stuff'>Willow_writes_stuff</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Assassin's Creed - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood and Injury, Gen, How Do I Tag, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:47:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,152</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26993374</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willow_writes_stuff/pseuds/Willow_writes_stuff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Once in a million years a lady like her rises.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>She is like a cat in the dark and then she is the darkness.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/stealingpotatoes/gifts">stealingpotatoes</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Shoutout to potes who read the original.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>October 3rd, 42 BCE. Philippi, Greece.</p><p>Rhiannon rode through the battlefield at a canter on her mare, trying to avoid the heaps of corpses left in its wake. Earlier was the battle of the Philippi, and she had one mission:</p><p>Kill Gaius Cassius Longinus.</p><p>She slowed her horse to a trot before listening for any signs of soldiers that haven't died yet. She dismounts and hands her water skin to a boy that looks no older than 17. He hands it back to her, and she continues riding towards Cassius' encampment.  </p><p>Cassius finishes his letter to Brutus and turns the knife he used to stab Caesar in his hands. It's a damn disgrace he didn't deliver the final blow and rather Antony's cat-like ex-courtesan Lumiosa, which was just salt in another wound. To make matters worse, it was Antony that kicked his ass today. No news had come from Brutus yet, so he assumed that the battle had been lost altogether. </p><p>He thought back to the time he was handed a Celtic queen as a gift, covered in dirt and blood all over a torn-up white dress. Rhiannon tolerated him; she seemed to have an appreciation for the arts. </p><p>No, not even Rhiannon was at his side now. She left years ago and became a woman of murder and mayhem, running around the empire with her troupe of assassins.</p><p>After Caesar's death and the civil war begun, they all turned heel and declared him their enemy. He and Brutus gathered their troops and went to war, the assassins prowling in the dark. </p><p>Rhiannon re-examined the portrait of Cassius she did herself, fingers running over the parchment and ink. On the back of the sheet were her notes written in welsh. She had a red x painted through her sketch of Aurelius, a roman treasurer that was milking her city dry. Of course, she returned to Dyfed, the spot that she used to rule, and killed Aurelius, leaving him to rot with all his stolen wealth. Not as charismatic as Lumiosa handing out money to provincials at Vulcanalia, but she got the job done none the less. </p><p>The encampment comes into view, and Rhiannon whips the reins to get her horse into a gallop. Her hood is no longer up, and she tries to mitigate the risk of being found suspicious. </p><p>A guard stops her upon arrival. "Who are you, and what are you doing here? If you're a courtesan, I'm afraid we have no soldiers to entertain, and Cassius seems to be a bit down on himself," he states. Rhiannon hands him the forged papers and uses her eagle vision. </p><p>15 guards, 30 soldiers, but none of them are near Cassius. This almost too easy, she thinks to herself. She dismounts and checks over her weapons and supplies. She'll loot Cassius' tent and body for all she can carry on her person, and maybe take a few apples for her beloved horse. She sneaks by guards and soldiers with relative ease, petting the dogs wandering about. </p><p>Cassius still had the dagger in his hands, wondering how he could've done better. Something other than letting the republic die with Caesar and plunging the empire into civil war and chaos. </p><p>He remembers seeing the soothsayer that told Caesar not to go to the senate that day in the street right after the assassination. He couldn't see her face, but she had wild red hair, a shiny orb that looked like it was glowing, and a cloak made of raven feathers. He doesn't want to think about her ink-black eyes either. He's too tired to think that he had encountered one of the Parcae in the street. He did remember that her Latin was off, and she rambled at him in some foreign tongue he didn't recognize. He regarded her as a freak and moved on.</p><p>Rhiannon arrives at the tent with little hassle. She knocks, saying it was her. "Come in," Cassius answers. </p><p>"It's been a while, Cassius. I haven't seen you in what, 2 years?" She asks, trying to make small talk to ease his nerves. </p><p>"Rhiannon, you're just the person I need to talk to, I'm glad you're by my side." Cassius confides</p><p>"I'm here for you, but not in the way you may expect," She retorts. At that moment, Rhiannon springs forward with the hidden blade. Cassius makes an earnest attempt to throw her off and reaches for the dagger, attempting to drive it into the well of her neck. Rhiannon disarms him with ease, grabbing his palm so that her thumb is on top once she has that arm. Rhiannon presses her thumb down, causing Cassius to open his palm and drop the knife. She kicks him to the floor, stomping his knife hand with her foot. There's the crack of bones breaking, and Rhiannon grabs the front of Cassius' tunic and hoists him up with her right hand before opening his neck up with a stab of the hidden blade. She twists it to make a sick sort of smiley face.</p><p>Cassius lets out a scream, and Rhiannon clamps a hand over his mouth, stifling him. "Shh, it won't take long," She comforts, if quite morbidly as she catches him and lowers him to the ground.</p><p>"Rhiannon, I trusted you!" Cassius exclaimed.</p><p>"Honestly, I don't know why you did that. There is a damn good reason I left you," Rhiannon replies. </p><p>"My plan was to come back for you after the war, to restore the republic, to lead Rome into a golden age of prosperity with you by my side!" Cassius hacks up a bit of blood, and Rhiannon takes him and wraps an arm around his neck, somewhat stopping the blood oozing from the wound. </p><p>"I was royalty in my own right before I became your pet, you know. I joined the assassins so I could watch Rome burn." Cassius hisses from the pain, but Rhiannon keeps her grip iron. </p><p>"Quiet, will you? I can't have you alerting the guards," Rhiannon asks as she makes her hold as tight as possible. Cassius tries to scream for help, but Rhiannon gags him a scrap of fabric that was torn from his toga in the fight. Cassius manages to get it off and gasps out the words: "Rhiannon, I Loved you!"</p><p>"Damn shame, if only there was someone else out there who loved you, but unfortunately, it isn't me," Rhiannon gets up and brings her boot down hard on Cassius' head. Cassius cries out once more but, it's his last breath that he'll ever take. </p><p>Rhiannon takes out a denarii coin and places it in his palm. "Tell the ferryman I said hello," Rhiannon leaves the tent and saddles her horse once more, riding at a galloping pace. She had seen enough of the Mediterranean. It was time to return home to Dyfed, where her family was waiting for her.</p>
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